I’ve Been Dreaming, Chasing Imagination

While sitting in a meeting, I had a thought about something that I had dreamed about recently. & then it hit me, I’ve been dreaming! I wake up in the morning and get myself ready to start the day, but I’ve neglected to ask myself, ‘did you dream last night? How did you sleep? How was the dream?’ I don’t know if I would be able to reflect and remember immediately, but I am going to be more intentional about asking moving forward. I never get so caught into wanting to dream because I think it would actually prevent me from having a genuine dream.

I don’t know what it means to have a genuine dream lol, but I mean I don’t want to manipulate the dream. You know, like day dreaming. When you day dream you kind of create the image and experiences how you want them to be, but when you’re just dreaming (and I’m sure there is a word for this) you just dream what your imagination wants to dream. It isn’t perfect. It isn’t right and every now and then you may have a dream that feels more like a nightmare because things you don’t want to happen will begin to happen beyond your control or understanding. Those are the best dreams. Not the scary ones, but the crazy ones. The risky ones. I remember dreaming about being on a roller coaster, high over what looked like a beautiful rain forest or something with lots of trees, wild life, and beautiful water. There I was riding and enjoying the view until I realized that I was on a roller coaster. I freaked out and eventually the ride got faster, the Cart I was riding in started disappearing and before I knew it I was screaming, scared, and now falling off the tracks. I ruined my own dream! I was thinking too much and brought reality into my imagination and ruined it. But I loved that dream! It taught me so much about myself and my fears. Those are the dreams I want. The scary ones. The ones that remind me that being too realistic can ruin a good time, even if it is a scary dream.

It makes me smile to know that I’m dreaming. It makes me feel like I’ve had a peaceful sleep. I may have been thinking and imaging while I was sleeping, but it means there is still imagination in me.

I am more afraid of becoming accustom to reality than I am of letting my imagination run wild. I was talking to a group of friends recently about the need for Santa and the tooth fairy to be real for as long as possible for children. And someone said ‘It’s because they need to develop and believe in their imagination.’ That’s so true. We all start with an imagination. We have imaginary friends and imaginary tea parties or sword fights. We were born with imagination and over time we want to get rid of santa and put on suits and dresses so that we can prove to ourselves and others around us that we’re big girls or grown ups.

We ruin our own dreams by wanting to be realistic. But you don’t have to understand magic or understand why santa would wait for all this time to bring you gifts and come down a chimney just for you; just to bring you a gift because you’ve been good. Or maybe we have to believe that the tooth fairy is real because even though you’ve lost a tooth, you will get something under your pillow for your lost. You get a dollar or some prize because for some period of time your body will be giving you something you need for the next phase of your journey. Another tooth should be enough, but you also get a gift for your trouble!!! How dope is that?!

Imagination is amazing and whoever started these tales and have helped keep them going really helps push our world and our lives forward. We all have an imagination and most of us have lost the power to believe in it. .

I admire and connect with people who trust and believe in their imagination. They’re crazy! They’re unrealistic and they know that there is no limit to the many things this world has to offer us. Of course there are a few people with the Grinch’s spirit, but even he had an imagination and desire for something different. He just allowed things that happened to him as a child, ruin what he had in him all along. That’s what most of us do. We try to forget about the stupid man in a red suit because we waited and he never came. We never got a dollar from the tooth fairy or eventually the tooth fairy stop coming. So we stopped believing. We stopped imagining. We stopped desiring more from life. It’s a sad reality. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up hope. You may have come to realize that there are some unpredictable things about this world that are unfair. They don’t make sense and no matter how hard you try to understand, it just isn’t right. But we must not lose our imagination. Because we have to believe that there is something that will come of this life. We have to believe that there is more out in the world and the universe and in heaven and whatever you believe that this life will bring you more good than it will bad. So your imagination might be your escape. Your imagination might be the best thing you have! -& so it is not the time to give up on the one thing that might bring you peace. It might be the one thing that keeps you going. So you have to believe. You have to dream and you have to feel things that might not ever be real. It gives you hope. Allow yourself to dream. It’s the one thing that, no matter what is really happening around you, can make you safe; knowing that you felt it. It was real to you.

And even if our imagination is damaged, why do we get so caught up in ruining someone elses imagination that we can’t allow them to believe in things they don’t have, feel something they can’t see, dream something that is far from being real?

That’s what spirituality and religion is! We are told to have faith and believe in God or a higher power because that is what faith is. We spread inspiration and Gods message in hopes that nonbelievers will believe. We hope those who have no faith and don’t live their life to what we believe is the right way will become believers too. We hope that we can share a thought or a message with them that will change their lives. Change their minds. We want so deeply for them to understand and believe in God or a higher power just as much as we do. The same is true for imagination. We should share our crazy dreams and encourage others do to the same. Dream wild and crazy dreams while you sleep and while you’re awake.

So, I’m excited to remember that I had a dream last night. I’m exited to know that I still believe in magic 💫

Because there is always some truth in what you feel and everything you see isn’t always real.